Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, said his bill was designed to address concerns that Texas is overtesting its kids. The legislation, which received only one "no" vote, would significantly scale back the number of tests to only those required by federal government.

"This is a great step in eliminating high-stakes testing," VanDeaver said.

An amendment to the legislation, which passed as its own bill, would require high schoolers to pass a U.S. citizenship test in order to graduate. The state would pilot new portfolio writing assessments rather one test with the Texas required to change how fourth and seventh grade writing assessment are done by 2021.

VanDeaver said reducing tests would save the state $11 million. The measure is similar to other bills considered this session that aim to cut testing or reduce the importance of STAAR, or the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests.

The move comes the same day teacher groups announced that they settled with Education Commissioner Mike Morath to exclude STAAR testing from teacher evaluations.

Texas led the nation in pushing standardized testing. But when the state announced that it was switching to the STAAR testing system and that high schoolers were to take 15 end-of-course tests to graduate, the backlash began.

The state then cut the end-of-course tests to five and created committees that can allow seniors to graduate even if they don't pass all the tests. The graduation panels were set to expire this year, but the Senate approved keeping them for at least two years.

The House is expected to give final approval on Thursday before the measure moves to the Senate.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the fourth- and seventh-grade writing and English II tests would be eliminated. They will remain, but the state would be required to change how writing is assessed in fourth and seventh grades by 2021.